Day 48

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See the race report for the Rotorua Half Ironman , After the race I packed Chris and his stuff into the car. The organizers were closing transition so I collected everything up! Chris actually came around the lake quicker than expected, but I was able to see him cross the finish line and take some photos. After that he grabbed a well earned beer at the end of the race and, after sitting for a bit, we loaded up the car and headed back to Inglewood.

Slight wrong turn on the way out of Rototua had us on the road heading back to Taupo, but we spotted it quickly and were able to turn around and were soon back on our way. As we drove, for the first time in days, we saw blue skies and even basked in a bit of sunshine for some of the journey back, but, as we drove, the skies got darker again and the heavens opened once more to give us a major downpour once more. We stopped en route for some food, Helen had beans on toast, I had a burger and then we were on our way and, having left around 2:30, we got back around 7pm, after a rainy but relatively uneventful drive back, other than when we had to stop because one of the windscreen wipers was about to fall off. We got back, having texted ahead to let Mark and Tigger know we were on our way, and they’d replied to say they would be at the church as there was a Christmas tree display and café happening for the local community so, we got back, had a quick bath and change and then, as Mark had requested my taking a camera with me, we wandered around looking at all the beautifully decorated trees submitted by local businesses, schools and churches. Was a really lovely evening, with loads of people around, and we sat and chatted to people for a while, until fatigue got the better of me and I made Helen drive me home and collapsed in bed to sleep!

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